Starker on 20/4/2016 at 19:27
I don't understand why there's such a big drive towards photorealism in what's essentially an animated medium to begin with. I actually find it easier to get into The Walking Dead than Heavy Rain. As far as artistry is concerned, give me Cuphead over Call of Duty any day.
faetal on 21/4/2016 at 07:54
I think it's also about matching tone. What I said about the SS2 thing being about it being an immersive sim, trying to be realistic but in a shitty older engine, thrown into relief by the change in graphics over time. If a game uses lo res graphics and the feel of the game overall is tonally consistent with being lo-res, as in, is not attempting to be realistic, then the whole thing gels better overall. If we're playing something attempting to be immersive and realistic, then we're going to be impressed by the graphics. If we're playing something lo-res with great gameplay, we're going to be impressed by game mechanisms etc. Obviously there's going to be big Venn diagram overlaps.
heywood on 21/4/2016 at 13:25
Quote Posted by Renzatic
Cuz 4k, damnit! :mad:
Though to demonstrate how we're very quickly reaching that point of diminishing returns, I give you Allison Road (not that old 90's song)
[video=youtube;__i_LoRKhJ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__i_LoRKhJ0[/video]
Now how can you improve upon that? Higher res textures will make it look even MORE realistic. Refinements in lighting wouldn't hurt. We still have plenty of room to carry the quality we're seeing here in somewhat enclosed areas to outdoor environments. There's tons that are left to be done.
...but considering the level of quality we're at now, the changes made over the next 5 years won't be nearly as jarring as comparing the original DOOM to Unreal 1.
The more photo-realistic the graphics, the more you notice the camera and controls. To me, watching that clip of Allison Road was less immersive than a lot of lower resolution first-person games. In particular, I was noticing the FOV was not quite natural. Quite often it seemed like it was too large in the vertical dimension relative to the horizontal, and the perspective was sometimes a little off so square geometry didn't look quite square. The hallway walls didn't look straight. And inconsistencies in the geometry stood out, like in some places it felt like the player was taller than in other places (and frequently too tall), and the size of some objects seemed wrong, like the world's largest pepper mill next to the sink and a really small bedroom door and washing machine. Also, it seemed like there was an invisible wall around the player preventing you from getting close to anything.
Another thing that hyper-realistic graphics expose is the limits of WASD/D-pad controls. This is especially noticeable in cramped interior spaces, where it becomes painfully obvious that you are remote controlling a camera and not moving your body. It's also in these spaces where body awareness is critical. I felt detached watching that video. Many games with lesser graphics have done a better job of making me feel like I'm in a room.
So I think there is a sort of uncanny valley effect with interior spaces too, not just faces.
Renzatic on 21/4/2016 at 16:25
You probably have a point. It's not quite as pronounced as the Uncanny Valley, but you will be more likely to notice even the slightest flaws in an environment, both in its build, and the way you interact with it, the more photorealistic graphics become.
Though I have a feeling that the recent push towards VR will go some ways towards solving this problem, at least as far as FOV and navigation are concerned.
faetal on 21/4/2016 at 16:29
Then we face the problem of when are we in game and when are we in real and all our children go hungry (other than in-game ones....or are they real ones?).
Renzatic on 21/4/2016 at 16:38
That's not a problem for now. The weight of having one of those VR headsets strapped to your head will always serve as a grim reminder of the reality surrounding you.
Malf on 22/4/2016 at 07:18
...unless they crack contact lens screens.
Actually, a few AR headsets in particular are already significantly less bulky than full VR ones, and I can only see the tech getting smaller over time. (
http://castar.com/) CastAR once again springs to mind.
